Charles A. McClelland

Charles ArmorMcClelland(April 25, 1917 – March 31, 2006) was an Americanpolitical scientist,systems analystand ProfessorInternational Relationsat theSan Francisco State University,who was among the first to introduceGeneral Systems Theoryin the field ofInternational Relations.

Biography

Born and raised inOakley, Idaho,McClelland received his BA fromSan Jose State College,and his MA and PhD inhistoryfrom theUniversity of California.

In 1940s McClelland joined the faculty of theSan Francisco State College,where he became professor of history and international relations at the department of International Relations, and chairman of the division of social science. He was also visiting professor at theUniversity of Michigan,department of Political Science, and joined the faculty as Professor, department of International Relations at theUniversity of Southern California.One of his students at San Francisco State College wasJames N. Rosenau.

He was president ofSociety for General Systems Researchfrom 1959 to 1961. In 1967 he received an USC Associates Awards for Letters, Arts and Sciences. In the 1970s McClelland received research grants from theAdvanced Research Projects Agency,a research arm of the Pentagon.In 1978-79 he was a Scholar in Residence at the Annenberg School of Communications at theUniversity of Southern California.

Work

WithWalter F. Buckley,Morton A. Kaplan,Karl W. Deutsch,Robert A. DahlandDavid EastonMcClelland was among the first to introduceGeneral Systems Theoryin the social sciences.In his 1966 book "Theory and the International System"McClelland introduced the idea to apply general systems ideas in the study of international relations from different perspectives, which led to the definition of different approaches.

In 1969 McClelland postulated the "wisdom approach",an approach that" invites scholars to prudently examine history and appreciate the precarious nature of human conduct, rather than being overwhelmed by masses of data, which more often than not lead to blind spots of partisanship ".

Publications

• 1955,Applications of General Systems Theory in International Relations
• 1960,The United Nations: the Continuing Debate.Chandler publishing. 1960
• 1960,Nuclear weapons, missiles, and future war: problem for the sixties.
• 1962,College teaching of international relations; problems of organization and collaboration. A report on applied and experimental studies of undergraduate college education in international relations.
• 1967,Theory of the International System.New York: The Macmillan Company.
• 1970,An Interaction Survey of the Middle East,with Anne Ancoli.
• 1972,International Events Interaction Analysis: Some Research Considerations.With, Edward E. Azar and Richard A. Brody (eds.) Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Articles

• 1958, "Systems and History in International Relations". In:General Systems Yearbook3 (1958), p. 237.
• 1959, "A Classification of International Relations Theory" in:American Behavioral Scientist,Vol. 2, No. 4, 32-34 (1959)
• 1960, "The function of theory in international relations" in:Journal of Conflict Resolution4 (1960), pp. 303–336.
• 1961, "The Acute International Crisis," in:World Politics,Vol. 14 (October 1961), p. 199.
• 1962, "General Systems and the Social Sciences," in:A Review of General Semantics,18 (1962), 456.
• 1972, "The Beginning, Duration, and Abatement of International Crises: Comparisons in Two Conflict Arenas", in C. F. Hermann (ed.),International Crises: Insights from Behavioral Research(New York: Free Press, 1972).

Publications about McClelland

• Charles P. Schleicher (1967), "Reviewed work(s): Theory of the International System by Charles A. McClelland", in:The Western Political Quarterly,Vol. 20, No. 1 (Mar., 1967), pp. 232–233

External links

• Charles McClellandat the ISSS website.